ALBUM OF WEEK 47: DANZIG 4P

Seems like I’m getting closer to current week, thank God! Hope I’m not saturating you with all these albums posts.

I’ve been particularly enjoying this one. I had temporarily quit Danzig after he cancelled his performance at the festival I regularly attend in Vitoria. I was actually very pissed off with Evil Elvis, and seldom played his albums, however couple of weeks ago I started thinking of “hot” tunes, and thought of mighty Cantspeak, which belongs to this album. I listened to it about 5-6 times in a row, thinking how cool this damn bastard of Glenn Danzig used to be.

There are some bands you relate to certain activities and moments, and I’ve always admitted Danzig are perfect for sexual intercourse. You can call me whatever, I don’t aim to be polemic, it’s just that whenever I listen to Danzig feel like getting laid, and truth is that I used to get laid long time ago and this one, among other bands, was part of the regular soundtrack of sex.

4 was the last album Danzig recorded with the original line-up (this is Eerie Von, John Christ and Chuck Biscuits) and also the last one produced by Rick Rubin before disagreements and money issues brought out to end with this first stage of the band, which in my humble opinion, was the most authentic and prolific, in terms of hits and stuff. To me, Danzig are their first 4 albums, which I worship. After all the discrepancies and the new replacements, Evil Elvis addressed the band towards something more vulgar, close to industrial metal, losing the sparkle and the original belligerence.

It’d been more than 2 years since I last listened to this 4. You know how this used to go. This album was available to me for many years, but as soon as I got widowed, many albums remained at their real owner’s. Thus, when I listened to Cantspeak in a loop, I knew that album had to be back at my shelf, and I bought it.

My first thought was that, just for including Cantspeak and Going Down to Die, 4 was a must. As long as I was listening to it and refreshing the songs in my head, I realized how great this album is. Brand New God, I Don’t Mind The Pain, Stalker Song… are killers!

Many people think of this album as a minor work, for not including a hit song such as Mother, but I strongly disagree. This album is as powerful and heavy as the previous ones, the riffs, the lyrics and the choruses are wicked. Truth is that new industrial elements were inserted, and Danzig 4P differs from the others for being more experimental and deep.

It’s sad all the changes, disagreements, firings and resigning ended with the golded years of Danzig. At least there are those 4 treasures to remind us that the Glenn used to be one of the most powerful frontmen in rock, before he sold himself moved by his ego.